While Matthew is moving northward, bands of rain and wind are still whipping around in northern Florida. Officials are asking people to stay indoors and off the roads as crew remove debris and power lines.

"The damage wasn't as catastrophic as it could've been, but it's certainly devastating to Daytona Beach, the whole east Florida coast," McCrory said.

Pamela Lessor lives in Sebastian, around 100 miles south of Daytona, right on the banks of the Indian River.

She rode out the storm in her home, which she feared would be swept away by storm surge.

"We were right on the edge of devastation," she said. "We're lucky. I don't know how long I should press my luck, but we're very lucky, very blessed."

Delray Beach

The city of Delray Beach was boarded up and shut down for the impending hurricane.

"At first we always hope it goes somewhere else, of course, but it's starting to look pretty serious, so we started getting ready," said Tim Bice.

Mandatory evacuations were in place for the Barrier Islands due to storm surge concerns so thousands fled the area for safety.

"This seems to be a little more intense of a situation, a little more life threatening," said evacuee Scott Monoghan. "We left our home, we did as much as we could. We're about four cottages away from the beach."

Not everyone left during the evacuations as some were confident their homes could handle whatever Matthew threw their way.

There was a mandatory curfew in place Thursday but that has since been lifted as of 6 a.m.

Luckily for the area, it appeared as if there wasn't an extensive amount of damage but not everywhere in Hurricane Matthew's path was so lucky.

New Smyrna Beach

More than 170,000 people are without power in Volusia County.

South of Daytona in New Smyrna Beach, damage could seen in at least one neighborhood. A carport was destroyed, falling onto and damaging the vehicles beneath it.

Evania Nichols is on the board of the condo association at The Venetian, waterfront condos that filled with water during the hurricane.

Parts of a roof at the condo community were also blown off and at a nearby marina.

"People that are here that have lived here for like 20 years say this is the worst they've ever seen," Nichols said.

Gary Robert lives in Hidden Pines and said he broke curfew to go out and assess the damage.

"I just took a walk out here and there's a lot of tree limbs. A lot of loose limbs that are blown around. Also in our community, Hidden Pines, there was a lot of shingles missing off the roofs and they were flying around."

The curfew for the area and surrounding counties is in effect until 7 a.m. Saturday, and police are enforcing it.

Cocoa Beach

Cocoa Beach is starting to come back to life, with people heading out to look around - or heading home after evacuating from elsewhere.

"We were all gonna stay, but then at the last minute we were kinda like, well it's supposed to hit Cape Canaveral right on, so..." said Amanda Shaw, who was sure there would be flooding back home.

The warnings about damaged by the hurricane were dire, but Shaw said, "compared to the hurricanes in 2004, it's not as bad as I thought it was gonna be but I haven't seen my house yet."

For others, getting home was not about checking damage to property.

"We just wanted to make sure my fish were OK," said Will Tipper, who also fled Cape Canaveral.

"We left yesterday morning when the news said it hasn't turned and it's back at us. We bailed."

Joseph Tipper and his wife boarded up their ice cream shop in downtown Cocoa Beach to protect their livelihood.

"I don't think it was that bad but you can't take a chance," Tipper said.

People were allowed back into Cape Canaveral on Friday afternoon as Hurricane Matthew trailed northward.

Stuart

Driving along I-95, there were trees littering the highway and billboards blown apart.

Evacuations started late Wednesday in Stuart – just south of Port St. Lucie – however, not everyone heeded the warnings. Those who stayed behind were quite anxious to find out what they'd see in daylight.

Hurricane Matthew started showing its strength Thursday afternoon and continued into the night. Trees were ripped out of the ground and the rain and wind left the expected cleanup of debris.

"I've had enough of Hurricane Matthew that I can stand," said Palm City resident Michael Osche.

The power of the Category 4 storm was not underestimated even by those familiar with the unpredictability of mother nature.

"I think there's gonna be a lot of destruction, my house may be under water," said evacuee Michelle Ruth. "We just know it's going to be bad. We've been through it was Cat 2's and this is a four, so it's not something to mess around with."

Thousands of residents in Martin County are still without power.

Clewiston

We continue to monitor the Lake Okeechobee water levels and the state of the manmade dike that keeps the water from flooding nearby towns.

According to the ABC7 forecasters, the area only received rain from the outer band of Hurricane Matthew – nothing that would add significant water to the dike.

The Army Corps of Engineers inspected the 143-mile man-made dike on Tuesday in preparation for the storm and found no weak points, however, the water levels are already higher than average – nearly 16 feet.

"That thing's built to last. It's gone through I don't know how many hurricanes, but quite a few," said local resident Barney.